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Statoil results plunge as oil prices and production drop
Helge Lund, Statoil CEO
AFP
OSLO
Petroleumworld.com 05 31 07Statoil, the leading Norwegian oil group, posted on Wednesday a 28-percent drop in first-quarter earnings to 7.68 billion kroner (946.5 million euros, 1.27 billion dollars) owing to falling oil prices and production.
In the same quarter a year ago, the company posted a profit of 10.64 billion kroner.
Pre-tax profit this year dropped to 24.79 billion kroner from 34.34 billion, while sales shrank by 10 percent to 100.17 billion.
The figures came in below analysts' forecasts of a pre-tax profit of 26.34 billion and sales of 104.47 billion.
The group attributed the weaker earnings to an 11-percent decline in oil prices and 14-percent drop in gas prices, calculated in kroner.
"We are delivering strong results despite lower oil and gas prices," chief executive Helge Lund said in a statement.
Statoil's share price fell on the Oslo stock exchange in early trading, shedding 1.35 percent to 164.25 kroner.
The group's oil and gas production dipped by three percent during the period, to 1.199 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) from 1.237 boe/d in the same quarter last year.
On May 10, the company revised downwards its 2007 production target for the third time in a year, and forecast production of "1.15 to 1.20 million barrels per day."
The company said delays at several oil fields in Norway, Azerbaijan and Algeria were expected to lead to a rise in production costs, which should exceed 30 kroner per barrel this year compared to 28.4 kroner for the past 12 months.
Statoil is the leading oil and gas group in Norway and the country is the world's fifth-biggest exporter of oil and third-biggest exporter of gas.
The company is in the process of acquiring the oil and gas division of its rival Norsk Hydro in a deal that is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter.
Last month Statoil, which is 70.9-percent owned by the Norwegian state, also announced the acquisition of Canadian North American Oil Sands Corporation (NAOSC) for two billion US dollars, giving it a foot in on the lucrative oil sands market in western Canada.
AFP 30 0814 GMT 05 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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